Patient Found Hanged Outside Va Hospital

October 09, 1992|By GARY LIBOW; Courant Staff Writer

WEST HAVEN — A hospital outpatient was found hanged from a tree outside the Veterans Administration Medical Center in West Haven Thursday, the third Vietnam veteran to die an unnatural death at or near the hospital in less than two years, police said.

Frederick Hanke, 42, of North Branford, was being treated for alcoholic dependency as an outpatient at the hospital, police said. He was discovered hanged from a tree by a belt about 6 p.m. by two people walking down West Spring Street.

Hanke was pronounced dead by a hospital physician shortly after 6 p.m. No suicide note was found, but police are working on information that the hanging might have been contemplated in advance, a police department spokesman said.

"Right now it's a suicide pending the medical autopsy which will be done tomorrow morning," said Det. Lt. Charles Beurer. "He had a dependency and he was being treated at the VA," Beurer said.

Other hospital patients at the scene said Hanke had been seeking readmission and had recently been distraught.

A woman reached at a Hanke family home on Branford Road in North Branford did not want to be identified, but said the family was upset.

"All we know, he was being treated by the VA hospital and obviously wasn't being helped. We're not sure what happened," she said. "We have no facts," said Carl Lister, the hospital's assistant director. "We don't know the circumstances."

The veteran was discharged from the hospital Monday, Lister said.

Hanke's body was to be taken to the medical examiner's office in Farmington.

VA police ordered reporters off the grounds, saying no one would be available for comment until this morning.

The hanging comes three months after the death of Thomas G. Golden of Enfield.

On July 8, hours after leaving the hospital, Golden, 42, was found in a cemetery a block away, a hypodermic needle nearby. He

was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

In March 1991, 41-year-old Richard Laferriere of Bristol hanged himself in a jail cell at the West Haven Police Department after being refused admission to the VA hospital. Officials said he had become belligerent at the hospital, and he was arrested.

Both deaths sparked criticism of hospital officials, with family members and veterans groups calling for investigations by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

In August, a group of doctors and specialists from the Veterans Affairs Department released a report stating there was "no common theme" of neglect or failure to follow procedures at the hospital, but made several recommendations for improving services and public relations.

Barbara Barrows of Enfield, the sister of Thomas Golden, Thursday night learned of the latest death from reporters.

She said that although her brother's death was ruled an accidental overdose, the family does not accept it and will continue to fight it.

"If they've got another suicide, they've got a problem there and they better listen to us," she said.

She said after writing to President Bush, the family had received a letter back in which they were promised a full-scale investigation into Golden's death.

Courant staff writers Colin Poitras and Chris Sheridan contributed to this story, which also includes a wire service report.